A Dawn Treader Christmas
by LadyAlambiel
Summary: It's a Dawn Treader Christmas! Just what does one give a Minotaur for Christmas? Oneshot for DiscordAndRhyme for the Narnia Still Lives forum Secret Santa Exchange.


Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't...

Summary: It's a Dawn Treader Christmas! Just what does one give a Minotaur for Christmas? Oneshot for DiscordandRhyme for the Narnia Still Lives forum Secret Santa Exchange.

A/N: Christmas oneshot. This is set in my _A Light in the Darkness_ universe, but this oneshot can be read as a standalone. Also, this one is primarily bookverse, I only used the movieverse Old Narnian crewmembers.

**A Dawn Treader Christmas**

_Dear Diary,_

_It has been two weeks since we left Dragon Island. I noticed a sudden wistfulness among the crew as of yesterday. I could not imagine why since we had supplies aplenty and the wind was strong, which as I have learned is very important. I finally asked Cousin Lucy, having decided she would be the least likely to laugh at me if it was something that should have been obvious, and was frankly surprised by her answer. "It's a week until Christmas, Eustace." Alberta and Harold have never been very interested in celebrating holidays, so I never thought about it. However, Christmas is clearly a very important holiday here in Narnia. Of course, it was not long before Cousin Lucy gathered us together and presented a solution..._

Lucy beamed at us as we waited for her to finally speak. Reep was sitting next to me, his tail curling and uncurling (I no longer had any desire to touch it) as his paw rested on the hilt of his sword, "Begging your pardon, your majesty, but why have you called us together?"

Edmund nodded, "Yes, Lu, what's all the secrecy about?"

Lucy smiled, "I wanted to tell you the most wonderful solution for how we can still celebrate Christmas even though we're at sea."

Edmund exchanged a look with Caspian while the other crewmembers looked at each other and then Lucy. No one looked at me, not that I blame them. I wouldn't have looked at me either. Reep leaned forward, looking eager, "What is the solution, your majesty?"

Lucy's smile somehow became brighter as she stated, "We shall have a Secret Santa exchange!"

I looked around, but only Edmund seemed to know what she meant while the Narnians exchanged confused looks. Tavros scratched his chest, "What's a Secret Santa exchange? How do we exchange Santas if they're secret?"

Well, when you took the words literally...the Minotaur had a point. I probably would have said something wrong and offended someone...again, so it was a jolly good thing that Lucy and Edmund were around to explain. Drinian still looked a little dubious, "So, what you're saying, your majesty, is we write our names down on slips of parchment and then you want us to put them in a bag or some such thing, draw them out, and unless it's our own names, we are stuck with that person to give a present to for Christmas?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes, exactly."

Caspian grinned, "I think this is a marvelous idea. And it comes from your majesties' world?"

Lucy and Edmund nodded, with Edmund explaining, "It's not the most common tradition, but it is most often found when people are in situations like ours, isolated from home and family, especially since it is a way to establish good cheer and raise morale."

Caspian grinned, "Then it is settled. We shall have a Secret Santa exchange. Rhince! Have all the crew write down their names on slips of parchment and then we shall have the drawing. And remember no trading." I rather doubted I was supposed to notice the sidelong glance in my direction as he said that, but I understood that two weeks weren't really long enough to make up for months of acting beastly toward everyone.

Once the crew finally understood what we were doing and that we were not actually exchanging Santas (apparently Narnians are quite literal in their understanding of things), they were all quite cheerful and enthusiastic as the drawstring bag being used was passed around by Lucy. Only two had put their initial picks back because they drew their own names, Reepicheep and Edmund. I was one of the last to go, pulling out the folded up slip of parchment I hoped it was not my own name; I unfolded it and just stared. Oh bother. "I am going to have to think about this one." Lucy giggled then continued passing the bag, while I stared at the name written on my slip of parchment. _Tavros._ Just what does one give a Minotaur for Christmas?

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Three days before Christmas everyone was working on their own individual gifts for the person they were Secret Santa to…except me. I had no idea what to give Tavros. I mean he was a Minotaur and since they do not exist in England and I never even read Greek mythology...well I was quite at a loss as to what to give him. And, I had never done a Secret Santa exchange before, only heard of it in passing, so I was unsure as to whether or not I could ask for advice. I decided to take an alternative to asking for help and possibly breaking the rules; I would follow the habits of great scientists and complete some unobtrusive observation on the subject, err, Tavros.

That plan sounded far better in theory than it worked in reality...

"Watch it!"

I narrowly avoided being stepped on by Jemain, the other Minotaur...he looked a lot like Tavros, maybe they were cousins or something. "Sorry."

He shook his head and continued down to the lower decks. "What are you doing exactly, Eustace?" I looked up to see Reep looking down from where he was hanging off an overhead beam.

"I am trying to conduct some unobtrusive observation. It is how people collect information on things or people about which they know very little."

The Mouse chuckled, "And, when does the unobtrusive part of your observation occur?"

I sighed, "Apparently never since I am always in someone's way."

Reep made a grand leap to the small barrel sitting on the landing between the two stairways and then he grinned at me, "Well, perhaps you just need an expert in unobtrusive observation to help you?"

I hesitated then attempted to clarify that I was understanding him correctly, "You mean you?"

Reepicheep threw his paws up in a grand gesture, "Of course, I mean me! Who is better at unobtrusive observation than a Mouse? Who? No answer? Of course not, because there isn't one! No one is better at unobtrusive observation than a Mouse! Now come on, we've quite a bit of work to do."

I ended up spending the next two days learning as many of the finer points of unobtrusive observation from Reepicheep as could be taught to a Human by a Mouse. It was not easy, but it was worth it when Christmas came around and it was time for the exchange...

DTDTDTDTDTDTDTDTDTDTDT

The crew was in far higher spirits that day than I really ever remembered them. Of course, it was always a possibility that I had been too busy being beastly to notice. In any case, the Secret Santa exchange was a smashing hit. Cruickshanks the Dwarf gave Drinian a carved chess set. Reep gave Edmund a set of very fine, very old throwing knives (for a Human) that had been given to him by Centaurs (I wish I had the chance to meet one...and one day I must ask Edmund and Lucy why they exchanged a look that made them seem so...old and world-wise and...lost in a memory). Lucy gave Caspian a journal she had filled with the fairytales of our own world (maybe she might consider giving me one next Christmas). Edmund gave Cruickshanks a gift that he declared only a Dwarf could truly appreciate (it was a one of the most tarnished lumps of metal I had ever seen) and Cruickshanks truly appreciated it...I think...it is a little hard to tell with him. Nausus the Faun gave Lucy a panpipe. Caspian gave me a book of Narnian maps.

And then...it was finally my turn. I took a breath and noticed Reepicheep giving me a little nod of encouragement. I stood and handed a small wrapped bundle to Tavros. We all watched as Tavros unwrapped it, he stared at the gift for a moment, and then he burst out laughing and clapped me so hard on the back that I would have landed on my face if Edmund had not grabbed me. "Thank you! This is wonderful! Eh! Jemain, take a look at what the little calf managed to put together!" He raised the simple band of deceptively complicated-looking leather knot work before he tied it to his belt.

The crew had started a round of Narnian Christmas songs and I was flipping through the book of maps (I cannot sing...even I do not want to hear myself sing) when Lucy joined me. She nodded to where Tavros was laughing with Jemain and Caprius the Satyr as he experimented with using the band to hold different tools, hooks and small knives and such. "That was a good gift for him."

I shrugged, "Well, Reep helped me learn how to do some true unobtrusive observation, otherwise I never would have heard him tell Caprius that he needed some sort of attachment to his belt for his tools." I paused then asked, "Lucy, why did you and Edmund have such a strange look when Reep gave Edmund his gift."

Lucy's smile faded slightly, "That story should be saved for another time, Eustace. For now, just know that we were there when those knives were first commissioned." She smiled at me again, "You know I could tell them whose idea it really was for the Secret Santa exchange."

I grinned a little, "I might have heard of it, but you pulled it off. And, besides they will believe that fact when a British consulate is established in Narnia."

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**A/N: Please Read and Review! For those of you who read my A Light in the Darkness stories, there is a small nod to the events and characters of those stories. Let me know if you spotted it. :) Leave a review and let me know what y'all thought of this one.**

**A/N2: Happy New Year's Eve!**


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